Prosecutors will provide the document to defense attorneys in cases that involve Cornelius Officer Miguel Monico as a witness, according to an April letter from District Attorney Bob Hermann to Cornelius Police Chief Ken Summers. In those cases, a judge would determine whether the document would be admissible, the letter says.

The magistrate judge wrote that a "finder of fact," meaning a judge or juror, could determine that Monico lied about a confession and about conducting a field test on a substance he believed was cocaine -- issues raised in a federal lawsuit against Monico and the city.

Although the judge's recommendations are not binding, Hermann said he thinks his office is obligated to provide the document to defense attorneys in future cases involving Monico's police work.

"There's really two choices," Hermann said in a telephone interview. "You turn it over...or you don't turn it over. Another term for that is concealing. You don't want to be on the defense of that. You err on the side of disclosing too much rather than not enough."

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in a 1963 case, Brady v. Maryland, established case law that requires the state to provide defense counsel with evidence related to the credibility of a witness, including police officers.

Hermann on April 17 wrote that the magistrate's recommendations, which Summers sent to him via email that day, triggered his office to "consider Officer Monico to be a 'Brady list' witness immediately." In a follow-up letter to the city on April 23, Hermann wrote that prosecutors will continue to use Monico as a witness.

Attorney Dan Thenell, who represents the officers, said he disagrees with Hermann's decision to disclose the document to defense counsel because it's not a credibility finding.

"I think that the city's haste in sending this to Bob Hermann just absolutely stinks," he said. "We think it's retaliatory."

Thenell said the city placed Monico on desk duty for a few days after Hermann's April 17 letter. After Hermann clarified that his office would still use Monico as a witness, Monico was placed back on patrol, Thenell said.

The city has declined to comment.

Hermann said it's rare for his office to take actions that relate to an officer's credibility. Since he was elected district attorney, Hermann recalls writing two other Brady-related letters to police agencies, he said.

On April 10, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Papak issued his findings and recommendations after the city of Cornelius and Monico requested in November that summary judgment be granted on the remaining claims against them in the federal lawsuit. The March 2011 lawsuit alleges Monico and the city violated Diego Mata-Gonzalez's constitutional rights during an investigation the year before. Mata-Gonzalez was arrested on cocaine charges and his children were taken into state protective custody. But the white powder police seized was not cocaine, and the charges against Mata-Gonzalez were later dropped.

In his recommendations, Papak wrote that Monico did not have probable cause to arrest Mata-Gonzalez. A fact-finder, Papak wrote, could determine Monico fabricated Mata-Gonzalez's confession to him in Spanish that the white powder was cocaine.

"In light of the now established and undisputed fact that the seized substance was not cocaine, the accuracy of Monico's testimony to the contrary and his good faith in purportedly subjectively relying on Gonzalez' 'confession' in obtaining an arrest warrant are called into very serious question," Papak wrote. "It is highly implausible that Gonzalez would confess to law enforcement officials that a powder he knew to be cascarilla (soap) was in fact a controlled substance."

Monico also said he conducted two field tests on the substance and both provided results that led him to believe the white powder was old cocaine, according to court records. In his recommendations, Papak wrote that a fact-finder could determine that one of the field tests Monico claims he conducted did not occur.

Papak recommended that some of the defendants' claims for summary judgment be granted and some be denied.

Mata-Gonzalez filed the suit, along with his family, against the city of Cornelius, Washington County, the state's Department of Human Services and multiple law enforcement officers. The plaintiffs, court records say, have agreed to drop claims against all defendants except Monico and the city of Cornelius. The family alleges Monico violated their Fourth Amendment rights and that the city is liable for malicious prosecution, among other claims.

Attorney Robert Wagner, who represents the city and Monico, filed a response on April 24 objecting to Papak's recommendations, stating the magistrate judge made several legal errors in his analysis, including his finding that Monico lacked probable cause to arrest Mata-Gonzalez. The judge also erred when he included disputed credibility evidence and made credibility determinations in his assessment of whether Monico had probable cause, Wagner wrote.

A U.S. District Court judge will choose to adopt, partially adopt or reject Papak's recommendations in determining whether Monico and the city should be granted their request for summary judgment, records say.